


It's All In the Eyes

by HexManiacVex



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
Genre: also Yuma doesn't look like Yuma most of the time, also kids die but I tried not to make it too graphic, because you'll see, there's also a guest appearance of the father of the Supreme King, there's blood though, this is assuming Astral is the one that gave Kazuma the key, this was typed because of a 'wait a second' moment at Zexal's end, via being mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-17
Updated: 2017-03-17
Packaged: 2018-10-06 18:24:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10341624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HexManiacVex/pseuds/HexManiacVex
Summary: Kazuma saw more than the edge of the world during the snowstorm.





	

Despite his words, as Kazuma fell, he was certain he would be unable to keep his promise. And as he plummeted into the darkness below, he felt no sadness or regret.

 

So long as Mirai lived, he would let the abyss swallow him.

 

Yet as he fell, the world grew lighter. The air surrounding him began to electrify, warming from a harsh bitter cold to a crisp refreshing coolness. The light became so bright that he was forced to close his eyes and as the atmosphere continued to buzz and thrum his ears popped from a change in pressure.

 

And then he was weightless, the light through his eyelids no longed harsh enough to keep them closed. With a groan he opened his eyes and was greeted to a beautiful sight. Stars and mists, a massive galaxy swirling lazily before him in a field of pinks, purples, blues...

 

Where was he?

 

Was this the end of the world?

 

Soft light pulsed above him and looking up his eyes fell on a glowing figure. Slim and tall, though the light made it so he was unable to see any distinguishing features. Something was grasped in the otherworldly being's hand though and as he watched delicate fingers opened and a pendant began to fall.

 

He instinctively grabbed it and immediately a vision of destruction filled his senses. Red lights streaking towards the galaxy from before, exploding as they impacted, he could almost imagine the screams of those within the galaxy as their home was destroyed. As soon as he saw it it ended and once more he was looking upon the glowing figure.

 

It was... familiar, for some strange reason. Not to his physical senses, but in a deeper sense. And those same senses came to realize the being before him was merely half of a person, someone somehow torn in two. At that thought the pendant in his hand grew warm and the gold glimmered, an image of his son dancing at the edges of his mind.

 

The world around him suddenly grew dark.

 

* * *

 

Kazuma awoke to blistering heat and winds that brought sharp sand instead of sharp snow.

 

With a groan he sat up, raising an arm to shield himself from the elements. Blinking he spotted the gold pendant from before clasped in his fingers, the surface dull and no longer warm to the touch. It served as a confirmation that he was in reality, a strangely grounding item despite its origins. Really, with how solid its small mass felt in his hand, he couldn't possibly be dreaming.

 

A cry sounded a ways away, small and frail and followed by childish laughter. His thoughts of where he was and how he got here were put on hold, parental instincts picking him up and leading his feet towards the source. He could see dunes surrounding him, the walls of a city climbing into the sky. Egyptian, he'd been on enough expeditions to recognize the structures and writings on the side.

 

A group of children stood just outside the city walls, all tanned from the sun and varying in age. What caught Kazuma's attention was the small heap a few yards from them, especially when one of the kids in the group threw a stone at the heap and gained a yelp for the effort.

 

That got him running, a shout leaving his throat. Some of the kids fled. Others stood their ground. The thrower of the stone glared at him and somehow he could understand the language that passed his lips.

 

"Why would you defend the demon child without a _Ka?_ "

 

Kazuma placed himself between the downed child and the group. He wouldn't tolerate such actions, regardless of whatever was considered acceptable in this place. And while he knew that his words would probably fall on deaf ears, there was hope that they could make a difference.

 

"Because it is the right thing to do."

 

It wasn't at all surprising when the thrower laughed, the children behind him joining. Insults were whispered despite his being present, a few children picking up rocks and throwing them at him as if to get to the child behind him. Despite the sharp pain of stone hitting clothed flesh he stood his ground. Refused to flinch or look away.

 

Eventually they grew bored and made their way back to the city. Or perhaps they left because the sun was beginning to set, the sky darkening overhead. Only when the last child vanished behind the wall did he walk over to the downed child, crouching down and picking them up gently.

 

A boy, young and scarred. His frame was thin and Kazuma was almost fearful that the act of touching him would break him. The boy shook his head to dislodge sand from his shaggy hair before looking up and Kazuma felt as if time had stopped and someone had seized his heart in a vice grip.

 

The child's eyes were the same shade of red as his son's, held the same fire and determination. Once more an image of Yuma came to mind, overlapping that of the boy before him, the eyes matching up perfectly.

 

The boy scowled then and jerked away, hugging his arm. It looked like it was broken, but when he attempted to reach out the boy hissed, stance stiffening as he backed away. Kazuma could only watch as the boy limped off, blood dripping into the sand from cuts littering his body. The man tried to follow, only for the world to darken completely.

 

* * *

 

There were stables before him, the smell of horses and hay sharp in the air. This time he was standing, stumbling only slightly as he came to his senses.

 

His only company were horse and a boy, dressed in dirt and manure stained clothes. Kazuma watched silently as the child tended to the animals, feeding them and taking to to brush some of them with a brush kept in his pocket. It was quite some time before he found his voice, fingers tightening around the pendant still in his hand.

 

"Hello?"

 

The boy jumped, dropping his brush and reaching out to rest a hand on a horse to steady himself. As the equine pranced though, spooked by the sudden motions of its caretaker, the child composed himself and fretted over the creature, voice low to sooth its worries. It was only once the animal was calm again that the boy turned to face him.

 

Once more time froze, his heart tightening. Again he saw Yuma’s eyes, the soft red blinking as they locked with his own. He had to force himself to breathe, tightening his grip on the pendant.

 

"Can I help you?" The question broke the spell and Kazuma forced himself to look away from the boy’s eyes. A healthy build, tall for a child, black hair short and in a pony tail. The child looked nothing like his son and yet the eyes...

 

"Ah, I... I'm sorry. I was-"

 

He was interrupted though by shouts and screams. The boy ran past him as smoke began to fill the air and Kazuma stood dumbfounded by the sudden change in atmosphere. Where had the calm gone? When had chaos arrived?

 

He turned in time to see the boy backing away as a horse reared up and whinnied, watching in horror as the rider of the horse swung his sword and the blade met flesh. His son's eyes haunted him as the town began to burn and the boy's blood soaked the ground.

 

* * *

He hadn't even realized the world had gone dark until it brightened again and he found himself in a crowd. From the looks of things, the entire population of whatever town he'd ended up in now was together in one place, the shouts of an angry mob filling his ears. Babies cried and men yelled, though what they yelled he did not know.

 

A massive dragon sat between the crowd and a mountain, a man standing on a raised rock next to it. Kazuma had no clue what was transpiring, but already he was looking away from the man and dragon, eyes scanning the people present, his past two experiences urging him that there had to be a pattern...

 

There. A place that looked like a temple. A small boy stood just outside its steps, shuffling about on bare feet and attentive to the people around him. Kazuma quickly made his way over, ignoring protests as he pushed his way through the crowd.

 

"Boy!"

 

The child squeaked before turning to him. This time Kazuma expected the eyes, but the fact that they once again matched Yuma's made him stagger in his steps, breath catching in his throat as he squeezed the pendant. The boy was moving to meet him too and they met halfway, the boy standing alert.

 

"You want something passed along, I'm you messenger sir!"

 

"I just arrive in this town." Not a lie. It was easy to say it with a straight face when it wasn't a lie. He motioned to the man and dragon, not caring about the words being spoken by him. "What's happening?"

 

"We've been experiencing disastrous weather and everyone is convinced it's the guardian dragon's fault. Mizael disagrees because the dragon is his friend and he claims it would never harm us."

 

He observed the boy as he spoke. The appearance was once more different from Yuma's, this boy having long hair that reached the small of his back and was a light brown in color. Yet those eyes were the same shade of red, containing the same life and spirit that the small champion in the making had-

 

A high pitched whistle was the only warning he had before an arrow sank into the boy's chest. His eyes widened as he began to fall and Kazuma grabbed him without a second thought, words of encouragement and support spilling from his lips as his heart ached.

 

It felt as if he'd just witnessed his son being killed right before his eyes.

 

It was the same feeling, he realized, that had seized him when the stable boy has been cleaved in two by a sword in the last vision.

 

* * *

 

He was no longer surprised when the world settled into a different one, arms empty of a small child he'd been holding before. Kazuma took a moment to gather himself, sitting against a wall and focusing on nothing else but his breathing. The sound of cheering filled his ears, roars of applause meaning there was some sort of performance.

 

There was a pattern. He'd proved it in the last... vision? Were these visions? He wasn't sure, but he knew for a fact that there was a pattern here. Each change of scene brought him to a child that had the exact same eyes as his son Yuma.

 

What did it mean?

 

He opened his eyes, bringing his hand into his vision and opening his fingers to look at the pendant the glowing being had dropped. It was just starting to dull, its surface no longer warming his palms. It occurred to him that he'd started to travel to these different worlds shortly after receiving it.

 

His mind wandered to the being that had given him it and once more he felt the strange non-physical sense that it had been half of someone. And familiar. As if he'd known the being in some manner.

 

"Mister?"

 

What surprised him was the voice being that of a young girl. The fact that, as he looked up, her eyes were a soft and very familiar red was to be expected now. Once again it seemed the pattern was repeating. A smile tugged at the corner of his lips as the crowd in the area roared and the girl glanced to it before sitting in front of him.

 

"What's your name?"

 

She blinked, cocking her head slightly and making her gold streaked black hair shift. Quickly she tucked it behind her ear. "Calista."

 

"That's a pretty name." She smiled at his compliment. Though her face quickly fell and Kazuma found himself reaching out to rest a hand on her shoulder. An action that he did with his son. It felt natural to do so and for some reason not because she was a child like him. "What's wrong?"

 

The question made Calista tear up, face scrunching up before she began to cry. Obviously he wasn't supposed to realize she was upset. The wall he'd just made topple over was obviously just built.

 

"The prince killed him! Alito would never ever kill someone! He and the prince were friends, why would he have Alito executed for something he didn't do!?"

 

For a moment she looked just like Yuma and Kazuma couldn't help but scoop Calista into his lap, hugging her close and rubbing her back. The girl sobbed into his chest, small fists bunching up his shirt as she continued to ask why.

 

Calista hadn't died like the boys in the previous visions, but she had lost something irreplaceable and gained a broken heart from it.

 

* * *

 

"He said you'd show up here."

 

Kazuma turned to the speaker instead of questioning where Calista had gone or how he'd ended up on the shore of a lake under a starry sky. His companion's all too familiar eyes shone from the light of the moon as a small hand picked at grass.

 

"Who said?"

 

"The king that took me in. Not the mad one. Or the sea one. The gentle one. With the kind son."

 

It didn't do much to answer Kazuma's question, but he nodded all the same. The boy beside him looked up at him, directly into his eyes.

 

"I'm incomplete."

 

For some reason the statement made sense.

 

"Something happened. He says that long ago my soul got split up and I've been lost ever since. And I'm gonna stay incomplete until, um... I don't know. Something about a key."

 

Kazuma felt his attention drift to the pendant in his hands. The boy's words brought up the image of a glowing being that was half of another. He looked to the boy again and at that moment it all clicked.

 

They weren't visions.

 

They were past lives, the journey of half a soul born over and over again, living a new life each time and repeating the cycle when death struck. Each time seeing the world through red eyes filled with passion and determination. The same eyes with each new life, never changing despite different hair, skin, gender...

 

A weight leaned on him. A sigh sounded and he unconsciously began to run his hands through the boy's red-brown locks.

 

"I don't remember any of it and I never will. He says that that's just how it is. So all I can do is live this life and not worry."

 

"He sounds very smart."

 

"Yeah. I guess. Not sure why he told me to meet you here and tell you that."

 

"Because you're my son. Or will be."

 

That made the boy blink before looking up at him. Kazuma smiled, his grip on the key tightening ever so slightly as he ruffled the boy's hair and stood.

 

"You should do as your king says. Enjoy this life to the fullest. Don't let being half of a soul wear you down. After all, you'll be reunited one day. It's only a temporary thing. So get out there and _Kattobing_

 

" _Kattobing_..." The boy rolled the word in his mouth, giving it a solid taste. After he grinned, fists clenching, eyes shining. " _Kattobing!_ I don't know what it means, but I'll do as my king says with all my heart!"

 

Kazuma chuckled, even as his vision faded to announce the world was changing once more.

 

* * *

 

"Dad, where'd you get that?"

 

"Mm, it's a secret Yuma."

 

"You can tell me!"

 

"How about you duel me and I'll tell you if you win?"

 

"You're on!"

**Author's Note:**

> Remember the end of Zexal, when Astral realizes Yuma is his other half he lost eons ago during his battle with Don Thousand?
> 
> This was basically born from wondering where his other half was prior to Yuma being born.
> 
> This was surprisingly fun to write and I felt like it was a good first fic to post to this site. Don't be surprised if I play with the theory of "Yuma is a constantly reincarnating soul" in future fics, the idea has grown on me.


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